Friday, January 10, 2014

How 95.7 FM The Game Screwed Up Taking on The KNBR Big Boys; Product Is Still The Missing Equation; Plus Friday Media Notes

When Entercom's 95.7 FM-The Game debuted in April, 2011, I was intrigued. I always thought sports radio on FM was a clever device and that in this market, it could work. It works in sports-heavy Boston, why not the Bay Area. Moreover, it seemed to me KNBR had worn out its welcome and was largely living on its Giants, 49ers and Warriors affiliations --their talk-radio, for the most part, was mostly meh.

*It continues to mystify me that their, PD, Jason Barrett, is still employed. Barrett's programming menu has been nothing short of a disaster, with experiment after experiment going nowhere.

Barrett's tenure has been largely defined by a knack for bringing in out-of-town unknown loud-mouths who don't know the Bay Area market--this is not exactly rocket science, but SF is not NY. That's not in any way denigrating NY nor the city but the point is what goes in the 212 and 718 doesn't naturally resonate in the 415 and 408/510. Pretty much common sense unless your Barrett and it's still mind-boggling that his boss doesn't see that. I don't know Barrett, never met him, but you can learn a lot from a guy who does contests to get hired hosts literally off the street. That's a wise business model.

It goes on. Hiring human junkets like Brandon Tierney--(boy, that worked well, didn't it?), was a foolish move from the get-go. There's been other puzzling moves too. The concept of originality, I guess, is something that's not on the sticky pad in Barrett's office. And spending globs of money on radio-TV ads making fun and belittling the competition was a ludicrous move at best. What was that all about? "You suck, we don't---you have old, stodgy listeners, we're fresh and new--listen to us, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!" KNBR was nervous enough to tweak their schedule and pass out a few memos but the bottom line is KNBR still has the dial position and the dominant teams, advantage Cumulus.

Truth be told, I welcome an alternative to the sports leader. But if you're going up against the big boys you have to have a firm, legitimate game plan, (no pun intended); you have to have original ideas and a long-term commitment and business model to implement. A Brandon Tierney, (who lives from radio suitcase to suitcase), is not a well-thought-out hire. Tierney lasted about as long as expected and never registered an ounce of traction on the local sports radar. His blustery was far more pronounced than his results.

Local, fresh, and engaging personalities make for successful radio. By and large, it's not a science but it goes a long way to reaching out to listeners begging for something different, something edgy, something, well, that's not the half-eaten omelet called "Murph and Mac". The Game's "Rise Guys" mostly do it right but the hodgepodge of manufactured shtick and reliance on a curious brand of humor isn't working. I like Dan Dibley, to a degree, but he's not a dominant personality. Of course, sad for the Game, neither are his partners.

The fundamental problem with 95.7 is a lack of original programming, a very lousy signal and extremely poor guidance. You can always help yourself as the flagship of MLB and the NFL because, like KNBR, you build your talk shows around your clients, (although Knibber does it better)--but franchises alone don't automatically lead to ratings nirvana particularly when one of your teams doesn't win a lot of its games. That's where the PD earns his living and in the case of Barrett, he's done nothing to earn any sort of respect let alone job longevity.

FRIDAY MEDIA NOTES...

*That hot microphone that Michael Savage didn't know was hot the other day on his KSFO, (and syndicated), show created quite a storm. Savage was heard ripping another local host, (who frankly deserved it), and lecturing a producer rather, uh, pointedly. It wasn't especially juicy but it was enough to spring a rumor that a head might roll.

*I'll be filling in next Tuesday on KSCO from Noon-2 PM, (following Rush Limbaugh); we'll do some media material and a few surprises. Management is also talking about a weekend show that will concentrate on radio, TV, the Net, sort of a "Reliable Sources", stay tuned and be sure to listen on Tuesday.

*Changes, I'm told by a mole, are coming to KRON faster than you can say Van Ness Ave.

*Speaking of KSFO, have you noticed the frequent amounts of dead air lately? Maybe someone should wake up the engineer dept. On the other hand, the dead air is far more superior to the actual content at times.

*I figured it out: Maybe Raponi over there at KTVU doesn't have a computer.

20 comments:

I kind of disagree. You point to the Tierney hire, but that was just one hire. It didn't work, so he moved on. Fine. But at least a chance was taken. But Papa, Kreids, Bucher, Towney, Dibley ... those are all fairly solid NorCal names. It's good they have the Raiders and A's, but they'll always be second-tier to the Giants and 49ers. Really, neither The Game, nor anyone else, will unseat KNBR or move the need much. However, it provides a great alternative, I think. The bottom line: Sports talk anymore are radio types interviewing newspaper, TV or radio types. Toss in a few calls and an occasional athlete ... There you have it.

As someone who comes from a FM talk background, loves sports, and lives in the East Bay and commutes to the city...I have to say for the most part they do a great job. 6a-7p. The rest of the day parts especially the weekends have questionable hosts. The Rise Guys have become my favorite morning shows. Entertaining and I get the sports I want without all the "I have all the numbers" old school BS I hear on KNBR.

Haberman isn't bad either. I don't think their programming is necessarily bad, but it's not ENOUGH to make a dent. That's the problem. Plus, the PD isn't a smart person. I know enough about him from his former days and former bosses to tell you this. He fell ass-backward into this thing. I repeat, I don't think they're bad. If the station was on in another city it'd do just fine, but anyone can do that. You need someone with a vision to take on the big boys in an era where the audience is shrinking. Needless to say, his early hirings were pretty bad. Brandon Tierney was awful out here. Hiring Barbieri would be the biggest mistake they could ever make, and as much as I believe the PD is not smart, he isn't even considering that. I mean, he can't be that stupid...

Like somebody else posted..they will replace the two white guys.with two more. For some reason THAT formula no matter how much it fails is perpetuated on local sports radio.Other then Papa,there's nothing there at the game. Same for KNBR,but they have the teams. Steinmetz gone,Byrnes stays..if that doesn't prove its not KNBR talent but the teams nothing does.Well,the game doesn't have any SF teams or the Raiders or Warriors. Maybe try to diversify? You know like successful people do?Or is it like D. Bruce almost said.."Sports talk dial is set..to white males"

Entercom absolutely blew it with launching The Game on FM. What's amazing is they only needed to look at how their own version of a KNBR-like dinosaur on the AM in Boston - WEEI, got taken down quickly in the ratings by CBS launching The Sports Hub on FM. And CBS did it with all local talent on The Sports Hub.

I'll bet you we see the revival of 95.7 The Wolf as soon as their contract with The Raiders runs out. This station is the Titanic and it's only going to remain a sports station as long as they're contractually obligated by the Raiders and A's. What a disaster.

95.7 is only good for A's play by play, pre and post game shows (if you can get their signal)... constant references to adolescent hormonal issues are a turn off, not a turn on.

i wonder the 'other local host' that Savage savaged was Spencer Hughes. if you are Savage how do you like that lead in when most conservatives have been tuned to Limbaugh on 960. Hughes is the bottom of the barrel.

4:05--Are you always so angry and eager to throw around insults? Never ceases to amaze me how casually insulting people are online who probably wouldn't dream of doing so in person. However, FYI, if you read Rich's post above you will see that, yes, the first part is about sports, but the second part, "Media Notes" is about other things, including KRON.

95.7 was doomed from day 1 they must have fired all the out of town talent they brought in.and used bay area talent who did not have any radio experience.Should just run all espn radio at least they have better interviews and content than what is put out on 95.7.

The radiers and A's dont have much choices left as A'S have been on every english am station it seems on am and the radiers choices have been poor since they left 1050 or 560.

Speaking of Media Notes, this week the Virginia Court of Appeals found, "Defamatory speech is not entitled to constitutional protection." It will be interesting to see how this case plays out: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/court-rules-that-yelp-must-unmask-the-identities-of-seven-anonymous-reviewers/282959/

Lots of pros and cons around defamatory vs. free speech, but in the end, making posters more accountable would raise the level of discourse. Libel is libel, irrespective of whether it appears in a book, magazine, newspaper or blog.

I was switching around the stations the other day and heard some guy on the 'Game' who calls himself the 'Guru.' I guess he won some sort of contest to become a sports talk show host. Wow, that's really a great way to build up a following in the bay area; hire some non-pro (and probably pay him peanuts) and hope people might listen. I don't think the 'Game's' brilliant PD is going to win that battle!